A Day
by loosingletters
Summary: In one world Ace lost his parents and gained two brothers. In this world he didn't. (Where one is living his life to the fullest, two are struggling for breath.)
1. A good day

**So, I wrote this for ASL Bros Week, which was uhm two weeks ago? It was a lot of fun - I nearly managed to write something for all days! But since the OSes were all a bit rushed, I decided to edit them a bit before uploading. The days AceSL, ASaboL and ASLuffy were all set in the same universe, which is this little 4 chapter long project. The other OSes should be uploaded within this week! Now, enjoy!**

Ace was running over the deck, let the winds mess up his neatly brushed hair. He breathed in and out again, tasting salt and climbed up on the tows, a bag securely thrown over his shoulder. He knew Shanks was chasing him, just like he knew that for all his strength his older brother figure wouldn't look up.

He adored Shanks, always had. His older brother was amazing after all! He always let Ace do all the stuff on his ship that he wasn't allowed to do on the Oro Jackson. Shanks was the first one to let him go to land by himself too. Granted, it was an emergency but _still_. Ace would never forget the feeling of walking through the streets entirely on his own. But for all his admiration, he had to admit, his brother _sucked_ at Hide-and-Seek.

"Firecracker! Where are you?" Shanks shouted and he almost sounded a little desperate. "Please come out before your dear mother tries to skin me alive because I wasn't responsible enough by her standards."

Ace pressed his hands against his mouth to keep the laughter from escaping. Shanks acted like a scared little baby Sea King! And to think that people were actually scared of Shanks just because he could knock them out with Conqueror's Haki. Ace still didn't understand why everybody made such a big deal out of this kind of Haki. He knew a lot of people who had it, himself included.  
So yeah, his big brother was strong but also one of the biggest dorks Ace knew. Just right behind his father, really.  
Ace turned his head to look at the ship's figurehead. His father stood there, listening to the world, just like usual. Ace wished he could hear like him. The world must be telling his father the most amazing stories. Then, just as if he had noticed Ace watching, the Captain of the ship turned around and flashed his son a smile. Ace returned the gesture and pointed at Shanks, who was still searching for him. Roger arched his eyebrows, before realization hit him. He nodded at his son and turned back to watching his sea. Ace grinned. He could always count on his father to help him with his pranks. Then he opened his bag and pulled out the first water bomb, just that this one was filed with green paint instead of water. He waited until Shanks was standing directly below him before letting go of it. The bomb fell and fell before bursting right on top of Shanks, making him Green-Haired Shanks. Ace started to laugh and directly dove for the next bomb to be sent flying. One crew member after another got showered in colors and Ace was having the time of his life. At least until he heard his mother call.

"Gol D. Ace!"

Ace winced. She was angry, definitely. He knew he had been playing a lot more pranks recently but it was justified! He was bored out of his mind! It's been ages since he had last spent time with somebody remotely close to his own age. Remotely close already kind of-nearly-only-in-emergencies including Shanks, who was a grown up!

"If you are not standing here right in front of me within the next five seconds," his mother continued. "You will stay in your room when we're meeting up with Whitebeard."

His eyes widened and he rushed down. There was no way he was missing the meeting! He liked his father's rival. Whitebeard was pretty cool and strong and his crew even better. It was _huge_ and Marco would show him around and Haruta, who unlike Shanks was good at Hide-and-Seek, would play with him and show him some cool new fighting moves.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Ace assured his mother. "And I'm very sorry for the prank, I'll immediately go clean everything up but don't make me stay in my room!"

His mother's anger directly puffed away and she smiled happily. "Good, then go grab a mob and off you go."

Ace nodded and ran off to grab the cleaning supplies. From behind him he could hear his mother scolding Shanks, and wasn't it great that he, mighty Yonko, was getting scolded by his mother? Yeah, it was.

Smiling he turned right, nearly running Rayleigh over. It was a good day.

 _(Little did he know that somewhere at the other end of the sea though, a world was falling apart. Desperate gasps for breath were let out as fire bit at skin and water pulled two children down. Freedom seemed to have moved out of reach as water was swallowed and a gunshot rang through the air.)_

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!** _  
_


	2. An eventful day

**To clear a bit of confusion up: Yes, this is all set in _one_ universe. And a little correction: It will be  5 chapters in total, not 4. That was it for the AN I think... Now on with Sabo's origin story! This is basically set 5 years before Chapter 1!**

Sabo had been five and on the search for food when his life took an unexpected turn. The runaway noble's stomach had been hurting for days, protesting against the lack of nutrient. Sabo hadn't eaten since his abrupt leave from High Town, and even there he had missed all meals besides breakfast. His father had long since started using food deprivation a fitting punishment for working too slow.

Sabo's decision to flee from his parents had been rash, too rash perhaps, but he didn't regret it. On the contrary, he had only been reaffirmed in his decision ever since arriving at Gray Terminal. The trash hive had shown him how much he never wanted to be like his parents, like anybody living up there in High Town's golden streets. But the past days had also shown him how cruel, lonely and unforgiving the bottom was. Nobody shared food or took pity on him, everybody had it hard enough on their own without a strange brat bothering them.

Sabo looked at the jungle in front of him. He hadn't dared to go in there yet, the warnings about dangerous animals and bandits scaring him, but he couldn't get any food elsewhere. Going back to his parents wasn't an option and Gray Terminal wouldn't feed him. Sabo took a deep breath before slowly marching into the death trap. He only had a pipe he had picked up as a weapon to defend himself, otherwise he was entirely vulnerable. His muscles weren't trained since he never had to actually lift a finger, he wasn't fast because he never had the option of running somewhere, he wasn't strong because there never was anything to carry. His hands where without calluses but mounted with blisters he had gotten from wielding his pipe. Starvation was gnawing at him and the knowledge that he would die within the next few days if he didn't get anything to eat was weighing down on him.

Desperation and the newly acquired taste of freedom were what carried Sabo forward.

He would get food. He would survive. He would be _free_.

With slightly more confidence than before, he marched on. He saw a lot of mushrooms, none of which he knew if they were eatable, and animals he didn't dare to approach. They were all at least twice as big as him, the dark glint in their eyes and the sharp teeth were enough of a warning to him. He had read about wildlife but all his knowledge wasn't any help now. There was no point to all his knowledge if he couldn't use it.

Sabo grew more and more frustrated as he continued searching for food but only found things that would either eat him or he was unable to identify. By the time the sun was starting to set and it was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open Sabo was more than just tempted to try one of the berries growing on the bushes next to the river he had been following. They looked _almost_ like the blueberries he knew. Either they were edible or Sabo would die, be it because of food poisoning or starvation. He reached for the berries when suddenly a small hand came out of the bush.

He screamed and directly leaped back, holding his pipe in front of him in case he needed to fight against the human plant. Breathing heavily Sabo watched as another arm came out of the bush, then a leg and another. Sabo slowly lowered his weapon, realizing that it wasn't a weird plant-human mutation, whose existence he'd easily accept by now, but just a human stuck in a bush. A small, tiny, chubby version of a human. A toddler.

Sabo walked over to the toddler and pulled him out of the bush. Big brown eyes stared back at him. Sabo hadn't known small children could be so incredibly cute. The ones in High Town were always so _ugly_.

"Daaah!" The toddler babbled, a wide smile on its face.

Sabo estimated it to be about two years old. Its clothes were full with grass stains, holes and blue spots, the same blue color being around its mouth.

"Bubelly!" The toddler laughed and pointed at the berries. That settled it for Sabo, he would eat.

He put the toddler down again and went to stuff himself full with berries. He ate and ate and by the time he was done, the sting of hunger had left him for the first time in days.  
It was completely dark in the jungle now, not a single light shining. So very different from Gray Terminal or High Town where it was never really dark. Sabo laid down on the grass, tree branches uncomfortably sticking into his back, and closed his eyes. The grass was a lot more comfortable than his sleeping place in Gray Terminal. Things were looking up again, all thanks to the toddler- Sabo opened his eyes and quickly sat up to look around.  
Where was the toddler?!  
He looked around but there was no sign of the child. What if it had gotten hurt? The kid had saved his life in a way, Sabo couldn't let it die here!

He ran through the jungle, probably catching the attention of all the wrong kinds of animals, but this was more important! How had the toddler come into the jungle in the first place? He looked too healthy to be one of the children living in Gray Terminal, that much the five year old knew.

Sabo flinched as he heard tree branches crack and break. In his head he was already imagining a painful death at the claws of the jungle's predators. Sabo gulped and with a battle cry charged forward when he saw the greenery rustle. He held his pipe like a baseball bat, ready to smash and at least try to defend himself.

"Bubelly!"

Sabo caught himself only in the last second. Instead of falling onto the toddler, who was dressed slightly differently from before, Sabo fell on the hard ground.

"Bubelly! Here!" The toddler cheered and jumped on Sabo, pushing all the air out of the blonde's lungs.

"Y-yes, I'm here," he confirmed, making the toddler laugh again.

Sabo was sure had never seen such a happy child before. Hell, he was sure _he_ had never been this happy.

"So you're still alive?" Sabo muttered and gently pushed the toddler off.

"Hi-an-see," the kid said and promptly looked around. "Hi!" It then shouted and pulled at Sabo's hands. "Up an' hi me!"

The toddler continued with pulling at Sabo's hands and- attempting to climb up on him? The five year old watched the toddler a few more seconds before finally making sense of the babbling and its behavior. He picked the toddler up and was rewarded with a smile.

"And what now?" He asked as the toddler turned his head as if it was looking for something. Sabo could barely see what was in front of him, how could the toddler?  
But then, in some distance, Sabo saw light.

"Luffy! You little brat! Where the hell are you?! I'm going to roast you over the flames if you're not here within the next three seconds, boy!"

The toddler in Sabo's arms giggled and pointed in the direction the shouting and the light came from. "Dadan!"

It was probably the kid's family, Sabo thought. Though, they didn't sound too nice.

Sabo took a good look at the kid, Luffy if he had heard right, again. He was fed well enough and his clothes looked taken care of. Whoever watched him obviously put at least some effort in his upbringing and could definitely afford it. They could probably use some help watching the toddler though and Sabo needed a place to stay until he was able to manage life here on his own.

"I'm going to bring you home now, Luffy," Sabo told the toddler seriously. "And I'm going to take care of you."

The toddler flashed him one of those extremely happy smiles again and Sabo knew it would continue looking good for him- them now. It had been an eventful day, would probably also continue being an eventful life. Sabo was ready.

 _(He didn't know that it would all come crashing down on them in fire and death. How one day would mark the start of the fight for their lives as the world chased after them and their freedom. Time would leave its burns and scars until maybe, one day, a hand would reach out for them and promise home.)_

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **I hope you liked this chapter too, I'd love to hear what you think :D**

 **ABCDEFWhee: I'm not exactly sure in how much detail I will describe what life is going to be like for them, simply because this is just a small project. I just wanted to explore this plot bunny a bit so that it'll rest. But I definitely want to show that Luffy and Sabo are not okay. More on that in the next chapter (which might take longer to post than I thought. There is more editing to do than I assumed...)! That aside, I totally agree with you that a lot would change, especially the dynamics of course. For one, Ace is pretty much a 180 from his canon childhood self simply because he doesn't feel the need to question his existence. He's content and happy and not there. Sabo appears to be more careful than him and without Ace there to push Sabo further, I think his character would develop to be sneakier.  
I'm not even gonna touch Luffy here, since his appearance in this chapter is small, literally. More on him in the next chapter! (Oh god I rambled so much sorry!)**

 **MoonFruit12: You'll see ;)**


	3. A painful day

**I was/am pretty busy with my October writing challenge, which is why this story had to wait for chapter 3 though I had it done. Well, that being said: Enjoy!  
**  
For as long as Luffy could remember, Sabo had been there for him. His brother was his everything and the seven year old had a hard time imagining what it would be like to be on his own with the bandits. For one because Sabo was there when he stood up and he was there when Luffy went to bed again, Luffy was rarely without the blonde. The other reason was much simpler: Luffy wasn't as optimistic as that he could believe he would actually have survived without Sabo. Dogra always pointed out how often he had ran away and how the bandits only managed to find him in the last second. One day that would have gone wrong, Luffy was sure.  
Thus he couldn't imagine what it would be without Sabo and frankly he also didn't want to. He preferred listening to Dadan as she complained about Sabo and him not letting go of each other. Besides, it Luffy was pretty sure that she didn't meant it and secretly was glad that Sabo was there, she didn't have to watch him then. But perhaps it was because of Dadan's carelessness that his grandfather had visited more often in the past months.

"Hi, shitty gramps!" Luffy greeted the marine and immediately got hit with a rather halfhearted Fist of Love. Not that it didn't hurt, but it wasn't as enthusiastic as usual. Gramps hadn't even shouted! Luffy stared in wonder at his grandfather's back as he marched into the bandits' hideout. He hadn't been aware that gramps could be so silent.

"Ne, Luffy! Help me with the food!"

Luffy stared at the door the marine had closed behind him for just another second before shrugging the incident off and running after Sabo. They had lunch to catch after all!

Hunting was by far Luffy's favorite activity. Sabo taught him how to make clever traps and, in case they failed, how to beat an animal ten times their size with brute strength. Luffy wasn't as smart as his brother and while the traps were super awesome, he preferred a direct approach. His hits were just as strong as Sabo's! The blonde blamed it on his ' _crazy marine genes_ ' and ' _that D in your name'_ but Luffy couldn't care less. All he knew was that he was super strong and would one day become the strongest and freest person in the whole world! Sabo had laughed at that, saying that he would be the strongest because he was older brother and it was his job to protect Luffy. The seven year old thought it was stupid. He wanted to do the protecting, just once! His brother always did everything for Luffy, he wanted to be able to give something back.

After a successful hunting trip the boys returned to the hideout together with today's lunch, the bear they caught. Good-natured they walked into the wooden shack, only to be surprised when nobody was outside to greet them.

"Maybe they are all in the main room?" Luffy wondered out loud and looked at Sabo for confirmation of his theory.

"Could be." Sabo shrugged.

The closer they came to the main room the louder the voices became. But no laughing could be heard, nor sounds of pain. What were the grownups doing?

"They found out about Roger's kid," Luffy then heard his grandfather say.

He already wanted to storm inside but Sabo hold him back. Confused he looked up to the ten year old, only to find Sabo appearing quite nervous as he shook his head. He placed his index finger on his lips to signal Luffy to be silent. The boy didn't really get what his brother was trying to achieve with spying on the adults, they always talked about stupid and boring stuff, but he went along with it anyway.

"Directly put a bounty on him," the marine continued. "Brat's ten and his bounty is already at a hundred million. He can't even properly fight yet and they're already afraid of what he could become."

Silence followed and Luffy wondered who his grandfather was talking about. Glancing at Sabo though, gave him the impression that whatever his grandfather was so worried about didn't mean good news.

"Why are you telling me this, Garp? That's none of my business," Dadan spoke up, sounding surprisingly tense. Nothing could get Dadan to be nervous. She would get angry when things didn't go her way but not once had Luffy seen her nervous.

"Roger isn't out to bring down the government. Dragon's bounty is as high as Roger's. What will they do to Luffy if it's ever found out who his father is? He's just seven, Dadan. He won't be safe here forever."

His father was a dragon? Luffy eyes widened. The most awesome news _ever_! Why hadn't his grandfather told him that before? The boy wondered if he could transform into a dragon. If he could spit fire and fly, nobody could stop him and Sabo from going on adventures!

"Sabo! My dad- hmpf!"

Sabo's hand on his mouth prevented Luffy from going on. The boy struggled against the blonde's iron grip but the attempt was fruitless.

"Lu, this is important," Sabo whispered. "Stay silent."

Luffy frowned but stopped thrashing around. For his brother's sake he hoped that there was a good reason for his behavior or Luffy would eat his portion too!

"What's your plan then?" Dadan asked.

"I'm gonna take Luffy with me to the marine headquarters. He'll be a good marine and by the time they know who he is, they won't be able to do without Luffy."

Why was his grandfather going on about that again? He _knew_ that Luffy didn't want to be a marine, he had told this his grandfather countless times. He and Sabo would be travelers, explore the world and discover amazing places. They sure as hell wouldn't end up stuck behind a marine desk!

"What about Sabo?"

Luffy heard his grandfather sigh. It sounded far too tired to come from the man.

"The kid has a good heart but I don't think he's cut out to be a marine. He doesn't care about the marine's absolute justice in any shape or form and I can't imagine getting him to care. Can you imagine him having to escort nobles? He'd make short work with them."

"So you're gonna leave him with us?"

"For three years," Garp decided. "Until Luffy has grown a bit more independent. If he wants to join the marines then, even if it's just for Luffy, I won't stop him."

Luffy couldn't believe what he had just heard. His grandfather wanted to take him to the marine without Sabo? He turned to his brother, who looked equally horrified at the prospect of being separated. Luffy couldn't even imagine how he was supposed to go about his day without Sabo. They couldn't let the shitty gramps separate them! Without Sabo everything would be just boring and dull and lonely and painful and-

"Breath," his brother muttered though he didn't seem any calmer than Luffy. The seven year old tried to concentrate on his breathing but it was so hard when all he could think about was being forced to leave.

"We're gonna be fine, Lu. We're gonna be fine."

The rest of the conversation between his gramps and Dadan was nothing more than simple background noise to Luffy as he hold back his tears.

"Alright again?" Sabo asked and Luffy tried to deny, he didn't want to cause any more trouble so he nodded.

The ten year old didn't seem convinced but let it go. They had to do something after all or everything would fall out of place.

"Come," Sabo muttered and carefully led Luffy out of the bandits' home. They avoided stepping on all the parts of the wooden floor that cracked to not draw any attention to themselves. As soon as they were out of the house they ran into the jungle.

They had countless little hiding places all over the jungle. The closest to the bandits' home was stuffed with emergency money and some first aid supplies.

"Sabo, what are we gonna do now? I don't want to go with gramps!" Luffy spoke up again, tears nearly falling, while Sabo pulled two bags out of a tree stump.

"You're not. I promised you, didn't I? We'll have each other's back until death does us apart."

Luffy nodded, taking comfort and strength from the statement. "What will we do then?"

"Run away of course! To the Grand Line!"

And Sabo said it with so much confidence, Luffy had to believe him. He was the older brother after all and Luffy found it hard to doubt him, even if he knew how dangerous and far away the Grand Line was. If Sabo said they could do it, then they would.

 _(They set sail on a stolen boat, leaving their home behind without a second thought if it meant that they were together. They saw the huge ship but paid it no mind, ships always came and went to Goa Kingdom. They were in high spirits until the first shot hit their boat. A second followed and soon flames began to devour the boat. They tried to save their way to freedom, tried to put out the flames but it was no use. Tears fell and screams were let out as the fire began to bit at their bodies. A third gunshot rang through the air, hitting flesh and drawing blood. Desperately they clung to each other, praying that someone would come. Nobody did as their boat capsized and they were thrown into the ocean. It was a painful day._

 _Somewhere else a boy played a_ _prank_.)

 **Writer's ramblings:  
So, that was chapter 3! Here are some thoughts I had in mind while writing:  
I feel like Luffy has a lot more energy than Ace. Luffy can't sit still - so why should he as a baby? And the bandits have no experience here before getting baby Luffy dumped on them. Therefore I thought that without somebody who constantly focuses on Luffy, likes him and does it out of his _own_ motivation (Sabo), chances are high Luffy would ran into serious trouble.  
Death is also no stranger to him here, he didn't grow up in peaceful and calm Foosha (Shanks with his _stories_ aside) and knows/has seen real life pain. So that he thinks about his own survival like that is given. But he isn't hurt like Ace because he didn't know anything about his dad and _always_ had Sabo. The emphasis on always is pretty important. They basically spend 24/7 around each other for five years now as they are pretty much on their own as children. Normally you don't spend that much time with just one person. That's the reason why some phrases here might seem weird and like they are most likely unhealthily dependent on each other: they are. Their world is pretty small, even if they dream big, so the thought of being separated kind of breaks their world in a way, which is why they react so extreme.  
Garp is worried so he visits more, you can't keep the son of the Pirate King a secret for long if he lives on the ship, marines are stupid, enough said.**

 **ABCDEFWhee and sapphermine : I always reply to guest reviews, given that they are more than "I like it" :D So, as you guessed: they got shot down. And yep, Ace is pretty happy, probably striving to become stronger than his father because he admires him and thinks "woah, he's cool! I wanna be like that!" He has his vague goal in mind and otherwise just wants to live, have fun, enjoy the day and don't regret anything. No problems there. Sabo here is sneakier and unlike canon Sabo would never leave on his own. Canon Sabo, while meeting up with Ace, lived on his own until Luffy came - that's 5 years. This Sabo didn't.**

 **So yeah. Enough rambling here xD  
Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear what you think!  
**


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